was about to revive this thread and say basically what I said a year ago so let me just go ahead and retract my earlier shot against "Bushfire" - it's a little overlong but the harmonies are gorgeous, as they are basically across the whole record. Never fails to make me feel good.

I always remember Cosmic Thing as part of the year a lot of the original "alternative" or "college rock" bands made it big on the Billboard Hot 100 with the second single from their album.

There was The B-52's who released "Channel Z" (didn't chart) and then had a huge hit with "Loveshack" (#3). The Cure did the same with "Fascination Street" (#46) followed by "Lovesong" which hit #2.Love And Rockets came back with "Motorcycle" (didn't chart) and then had a hit with "So Alive" (#3).REM released "Orange Crush" (didn't chart) and then "Stand" went on to become their biggest hit at the time (#6).Depeche Mode had a minor hit with "Personal Jesus" (#28), then had their biggest chart hit with "Enjoy The Silence" (#8).

This was right around when I first started paying attention to pop music - I'd be shocked if "personal jesus" hadn't gone top 40 at all, heard it plenty on the radio, but I can believe "Enjoy The Silence" was even bigger.

with "orange crush," "fascination street" "motorcycle" and "channel z" it looks like the traditional "first single ropes in the people who already like the act on modern/rock radio, second single goes for crossover" roll-out for a career act. I guess you could say that for Depeche too, as "Personal Jesus" is definitely the more "rock" song, even if such a rock song was atypical for them.

it really was a great time to be a little nerd listening to radio - a lot of "weird" acts were having their bubblegum crossover, so later when I started reading Rolling Stone I learned the historical reasons to like these bands besides that they were funny lookin' and catchy, and could tell people i'd been into college rock since 3rd grade.

tbh this alterna crossover is one of the reasons I loved that era so much; I really felt like all of the bands I was listening to were pop bands that could totally have mainstream success if people would only just pay attention (and Depeche Mode and REM had already had one big pop moment apiece with "People Are People" and "The One I Love") and that year and a half felt like a rolling wave of vindication

iirc Personal Jesus wasn't advertised as 'coming from an album' or anything. Violator was still being finished, didn't have a title yet. people weren't sure (at least in the UK) if it would be on the album. album was out like.. a full year after? or near as dammit.

yeah basically i went from goofy "college rock" videos to rolling stone to album guides saying shit like "oh hey if you like REM, you'll like the velvet underground, and if you like the velvet underground you'll like the feelies." It wasn't until years later I remembered that what originally grabbed me was people dancing goofy to "Stand"

Prior to its release, advertisements were placed in the personal columns of regional newspapers in the UK with the words "Your own personal Jesus." Later, the ads included a phone number one could dial to hear the song.[7] The ensuing controversy helped propel the single to No. 13 on the UK charts, becoming one of Depeche Mode’s biggest sellers. The single was particularly successful commercially thanks to the fact that it was released six months prior to the album it would later appear on. Up to that point, it was the best selling 12" single in Warner Brothers history.[8]

between this period and the ability of everybody from the Meat Puppets to the Butthole Surfers getting hits through the 90s, I can't help but be bummed that our current crop of college faves have uniformly failed to make that total crossover. Though the success of shit like the Lumineers and Of Monsters and Men suggests the Arcade Fire would have had several hit singles by now if they'd jumped to a major.

I just noticed how different the first and second verses are melodically, almost as if Cindy and Kate each had a turn to improvise a verse melody and in the end they went with both. The effect is kinda extraordinary: the song is just lobbing new hook after new hook at you as nonchalantly as somebody dealing a hand of cards